{"id":362415,"date":"2025-12-18T13:46:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T13:46:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/362415\/"},"modified":"2025-12-18T13:46:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T13:46:11","slug":"nichols-notes-two-devils-on-latest-nhl-trade-board-fitzgerald-roadblock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/362415\/","title":{"rendered":"Nichols\u2019 Notes: Two Devils on Latest NHL Trade Board; Fitzgerald Roadblock"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Yesterday, we reported that <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsnaut.com\/nhl\/new-jersey-devils\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:New Jersey Devils;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">New Jersey Devils<\/a> star defenseman, Dougie Hamilton, all but confirmed he held up a trade from happening. However, his name is still out there, landing on one of the latest big NHL trade boards, with another Devils player who is rumored to be on the block.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the chatter, clearly there\u2019s a roadblock here for GM Tom Fitzgerald, as we already have seen with Hamilton.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>More on both of those situations, the Hamilton report, and the trade board, in the links below.<\/p>\n<p>Elsewhere, Blueshirts recall top prospects, Pittsburgh (finally) nearing a sale, and more.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s do that hockey.<\/p>\n<p>Devils Trade Rumors &amp; News<\/p>\n<p>New Jersey Hockey Now: I asked <a href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/articles\/star-defenseman-avoids-devils-trade-110000629.html\" data-ylk=\"slk:Dougie Hamilton;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;outcm:mb_qualified_link;_E:mb_qualified_link;ct:story;\" class=\"link  yahoo-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Dougie Hamilton<\/a> if he\u2019s recently been asked to wave his trade protection or if he\u2019s vetoed a trade. He didn\u2019t say yes, but he didn\u2019t say no. Instead, the star defenseman avoided the question, which was an answer in itself. More inside.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>More NJHN: The Devils went into Vegas with a big reinforcement on the blueline, as Brett Pesce made his much anticipated return. And what do you know? The Devils looked MUCH better defensively, almost like they were missing a key piece for a long-while. Our James Birle has <a href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/articles\/devils-allen-outlast-golden-knights-063659187.html\" data-ylk=\"slk:the recap;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;outcm:mb_qualified_link;_E:mb_qualified_link;ct:story;\" class=\"link  yahoo-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the recap<\/a> on how the Devils overcame the Golden Knights in a late-night shootout.<\/p>\n<p>Devils Rink Report: Even with Brett Pesce back now, the Devils need help. ESPNs Greg Wyshynski joined me on the latest Devils Rink Report to discuss what the Devils should do by way of reinforcement.<\/p>\n<p>Be sure to like and subscribe to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@DevilsRinkReport\/streams\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Devils Rink Report;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Devils Rink Report<\/a>, and turn on those notifications for when we go LIVE every Friday on YouTube!<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>NHL Trade Talk, News, &amp; National Hockey Now<\/p>\n<p>The Athletic ($): Speaking of Hamilton, Chris Johnston is back <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6892789\/2025\/12\/17\/nhl-trade-board-binnington-tuch-danault\/?source=user_shared_article\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:with his latest;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">with his latest<\/a> NHL Trade Board, and the Devils star defenseman is featured on the list, as is Devils forward, Ondrej Palat, among 30 other names.<\/p>\n<p>Forever Blueshirts: After suffering their seventh shutout loss of the season, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foreverblueshirts.com\/new-york-rangers-news\/recall-gabe-perreault-brennan-othmann-boost-scoring\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:New York Rangers;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">New York Rangers<\/a> recalled their top two prospects. So, what\u2019s next for the Blueshirts?<\/p>\n<p>Pittsburgh Hockey Now: The issues holding up the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/pittsburghhockeynow.com\/pittsburgh-penguins-sale-fenway-sports-group-to-hoffman-family-close\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Pittsburgh Penguins;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Pittsburgh Penguins<\/a>\u2019\u00a0sale may have been solved, and the Penguins could soon have a new owner, made official in the next few days.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Philly Hockey Now: This is good stuff from Will James in Philly. Here\u2019s five <a href=\"https:\/\/phillyhockeynow.com\/2025\/12\/17\/flyers-game-trevor-zegras-streak-bounce-back-win-5-observations-vs-canadiens\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Philadelphia Flyers;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Philadelphia Flyers<\/a> observations, including why Trevor Zegras is very, very good at hockey.<\/p>\n<p>Montreal Hockey Now: As it stands, the <a href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/articles\/canadiens-second-line-finding-balance-190254998.html\" data-ylk=\"slk:Montreal Canadiens;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;outcm:mb_qualified_link;_E:mb_qualified_link;ct:story;\" class=\"link  yahoo-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Montreal Canadiens<\/a> are essentially stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to the second-line center options, and they will have to figure out a better combination once they\u2019re available<\/p>\n<p>Related Headlines<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Yesterday, we reported that New Jersey Devils star defenseman, Dougie Hamilton, all but confirmed he held up a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":362416,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[8174,2866,1294,149,5,264,21,151,35,4,4433,1768,56,1469,100,3502,11454,4185,74],"class_list":{"0":"post-362415","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-blueshirts","9":"tag-brett-pesce","10":"tag-dougie-hamilton","11":"tag-golden-knights","12":"tag-hockey","13":"tag-montreal","14":"tag-montreal-canadiens","15":"tag-new-jersey-devils","16":"tag-new-york-rangers","17":"tag-nhl","18":"tag-nhl-trade","19":"tag-ondrej-palat","20":"tag-philadelphia-flyers","21":"tag-pittsburgh","22":"tag-pittsburgh-penguins","23":"tag-tom-fitzgerald","24":"tag-trade-board","25":"tag-trevor-zegras","26":"tag-vegas"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115740880735777497","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=362415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362415\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/362416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=362415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=362415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=362415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}